In a statement issued on the date of the announcement, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that acquiring Instagram was “an important milestone” for the company.

Providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together.

— Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook

The 5 year anniversary of that acquisition just came to pass on April 9, 2017. Over those 5 years, Facebook has done an admirable job developing an intricate relationship between the two channels that’s benefitted brands, users, and marketers alike.

How has this relationship unfolded? Let’s look at some of the biggest accomplishments achieved by the two platforms, and how they impact your plans for content.

Facebook Acquires 1.86 Billion Monthly Active Users

Facebook was the first modern social media channel to leave its mark on the digital landscape in 2004. The number of active users has grown exceptionally strong since that time as the scope of Facebook’s reach continues to expand across the globe.

As of Q4 2016, Facebook hit a new milestone of 1.86 billion monthly active users. The company is on target to reach a full 2 billion active monthly users before the end of 2017.

As you can see, Facebook overwhelmingly commands the peak of the mountain. However, considering that the company owns WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, Facebook is directly or indirectly connected to billions upon billions of social content consumers.

The data should incentivize your team to analyze, and memorize Facebook content best practices. This means determining what types of creatives are optimal for organic engagement, and most likely to make an impact when running Facebook ads.

There’s a massive audience connected to Facebook and you want to get as much value out of that pool of prospective customers as you possibly can.

Instagram Reaches 600 Million Active Monthly Users

Instagram’s growth rate has been nothing short of exceptional since the platform’s inception. Launched in October 2010, there were 1 million registered Instagram users by December 2010. Six years later, the company proudly announced that 600 million people actively use Instagram every month.

The researchers surveyed 212 Instagram users and determined that there are 5 primary social and psychological motives for using Instagram.

Social interaction

Archiving

Self-expression

Escapism

Peeking

Keep those psychological motivations in mind as you create content for your marketing campaigns. You want to connect with Instagram users on their level, which means your content should inspire active users to interact with your brand.

5 Million Advertisers Now on Facebook

According to Facebook, there were 3 million businesses advertising products on the channel in March 2016. Six months later, in September, that number jumped to 4 million.

Why You Should Advertise Content on Instagram

In a statement given to Forbes, Instagram VP of Business James Quarles said brands and consumers align on Instagram because it’s a platform for “discovery.”

Businesses are drawn to Instagram because it’s a place where people follow passions, everything from mainstream interests, like their favorite musician, to niche hobbies like candy art.

— James Quarles, Instagram

Placing an ad on Instagram is as simple as tapping four buttons while logged into your business profile. Features like Boomerang and Hyperlapse allow users to transform day-to-day moments into brief video snippets that can be uploaded and shared across the platform.

This is a great way for brands to promote human moments or behind the scenes shots that show audiences life behind the company name.

Instagram is also releasing a new version of Direct that will archive photos and videos in the same threads as text conversation threads.

Why Facebook Stories Impacts Content Creation

Like Instagram and Snapchat, people can publish photo or video content to Facebook Stories that will disappear from the feed after 24 hours. One notable difference between Facebook Stories and its counterparts is that users swipe up or down to view the content as opposed to left or right on Instagram and Snapchat.

Connor Hayes, Product Manager at Facebook, described Stories as a recognition that the ways people share and consume content are changing “from text to photos and videos.”

This is in turn changing the way they’re sharing with one another and interacting online.

— Connor Hayes, Facebook

Just like Facebook recognized that photos and videos are the types of content that connect people to other people, you as a marketer must acknowledge that visual content is the best way to connect brands to consumers.

People spend hours every day searching for these types of content so why not make your brand the one that stands out?

As of the end of 2016, 150 million people actively used Instagram Stories daily. The company established a plan to monetize the storytelling format by allowing brands to insert single media ads in between stories. The ads are in the form of full-screen photos and vertical videos, mirroring the style of this video developed by McDonald's for a new product release.

How Ads in Stories Affects Your Content Plans

Instagram Stories is a very interactive feature and people who interact with story content will subsequently interact with your ad. People can tap forward, backward, and pause your ad at their own discretion.

By giving people control of how your ads play in their stories, Instagram helps you position your brand narrative in a way that is easiest for users to recall. Reach is the primary metric to analyze the effectiveness of your Ads in Stories, but brand recall is a powerful reason to create content specifically to insert into Stories.

What’s Next for Facebook and Instagram?

It’s safe to say that Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram has benefitted both social channels and the billions of users that consume content on the two platforms. The specific future of this relationship is unclear, but the two companies will presumably continue to integrate their platforms and their features so everyone enjoys more fulfilling content experiences.

Are you creating the right types of social content? Are your efforts having the impact you expect? Register for our upcoming “How to Create Facebook Content with Impact” webinar for insight into recent platform updates, tips for proper A/B testing, and new solutions to scale creative output of your Facebook content.